Thank You: Naga Chaitanya delivers a subdued performance

I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to see the young Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya play a grey character. His personality exudes so much kindness it would be interesting too what Chaitanya does with an anti-heroic character. Chaitanya gets halfway there in Vikram Kumar ’s Telugu feelgooder _Thank You_ where the actor play an NRI who after a sudden spell of success in America changes colours, repudiating the presence of all those who helped him up the ladder, including his mentor (the ubiquitous Prakash Raj who never fails to leave an impression even when the his role signifies a brief grief ) and girlfriend Rashii Khanna who to compound the problem, is pregnant. “I will not have this child,” Raashii tells her mentor, played by the wonderful Easwari Rao who gave a knockout performance as Prabhudheva’s vengeful mother in the Tamil film Theal. How welcome to see Rao in a metropolitan milieu.

After a tragic incident, Abhiram decides to travel back to India to express his gratitude to all those who helped him become successful. It is an endearing premise, executed with a gentle hand and a soothing touch by writer-director Vikram Kumar. Naga Chaitanya and Vikram Kumar have worked together before (in _Manam_ ). The comfort level shows. The film is constructed as a picaresque journey, almost like a showcase for its affable hero who goes from a corrupted NRI to a cleansed Hindustani. Along with the journey we also encounter Abhiram’s initiation into love in a flashback where Naga Chaitanya carries off a teenager’s look with impressive conviction. The first flush of school-level romance is beautifully crystallized in rural Andhra. Chaitanya looks as lovelorn here as he did in real life when he first fell in love with Samantha Ruth Prabhu . (The personal comment is in appreciation of Chaitanya’s transformative acumen). Malavika Nair is super-expressive as Chaitanya’s first love. She makes us wish there was more of her. Curiously there is more of Sai Sushanth Reddy with whom Chaitanya locks horns in Vizag. This students’ segment replete with patchy hockey games, made me squirm. It’s long and pointless. But there is a legitimate reason to keep watching the film even when it losses momentum: the magician P C Sreeram’s cinematography. To every episode, in Abhiram’s life Sreeram’s lenses imbue a sense of filtered forthrightness. Sreeram captures the US smothered in a suffocating snowscape. In India, the landscape is open and easy-breathing. Interestingly it is not only the women in Abhiram’s life who define his life. The script gives the men a large hand in shaping the hero’s destiny. And even the women are not all about romantic love. Avika Gor plats the chirpy Chinnu who first ties a rakhi on Abhiram’s wrist and then proceeds with the business on hand. Thank You is not a great film by any yardstick. But at a time when films like Samrat Prithviraj, KGF, RRR and Shamshera are subverting history to fit into pulpy definitions of cinematic entertainment, Thank You dares to dream in a style that’s simple and austere. So thank you, Thank You. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.